It's a Nice Day for a Dry Wedding

When it comes to your wedding day, you can plan for just about everything… except the weather.

As a bride-to-be, the threat of rain on your big day can be enough to give you sleepless nights and with most wedding dates set at least a year in advance there’s little way to predict the weather forecast. Or so we thought!

Meet our wedding weather calculator. Using official Met Office rainfall data, we’ve looked back and analysed 86 years’ worth of statistics to establish which days have historically been the driest and which days have been a washout.

When's Driest?

Lets look at the UK as a whole, starting with the most important information, the driest days. Forget the cliché, as April showers are seemingly something of a myth.

The month of April is in fact the driest month of the year, with an average daily rainfall of just 2.29mm. Planning on getting married on the 15th April? You’re in luck! This date tops the charts as the driest day of the year in the UK.

Now on to what we all want to know, the driest date by location. Tying the knot in Scotland or Northern Ireland? April remains the best month to avoid the rain, with 29th named as Scotland’s driest day and 18th for Northern Ireland. For England and Wales it’s the 29th June.

Fiona Kelly Photography

When's Wettest?

The data shows that in fact August is on average the wettest during both spring and summer, with 3.09mm of rainfall a day.

Dreaming of an autumn/winter wedding? If you have your heart set on saying your 'I-dos' during the colder months, November is the month to avoid, with the highest average of rainfall each year – 3.84mm to be precise. Weather day of doom? 11th November is in fact the wettest day of the year in the UK.

Wedding Day Weather Predictions

But what about Prince Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie, who is preparing to marry fiancé Jack Brooksbank exactly 5 months later in the same location? With autumn in full swing, it’s perhaps no surprise that the chance of rain increases to 37% for the couples October wedding.

Something Old? Wedding Days Past

Luck was on the side of the newest royal couple, who chose the second driest month of May for their recent wedding and were treated to glorious summer sunshine and clear blue skies.

Something tells us the royal aids may have done their research ahead of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding day back in 2011. As we all know the royal couple opted for a late April wedding, which we now know is the driest month on average and the sun definitely shone on the newlyweds.

Although a popular month for weddings, the couple’s big day was unusually chilly, with guests forced to dodge persistent showers whilst entering the venue. Our calculator suggests the couple would have been best selecting an earlier date in May, with the 4th averaging as the driest day in the South East of the country.

However, the wedding of tennis superstar Andy Murray and his wife Kim Sears proves no-one can ever fully predict or beat the UK weather. As even though the couple also selected the month of April, their wedding day weather consisted of rain, hail and thank goodness, a little bit of sunshine.

What If It Does Rain?

Will it be hot, will it be cloudy, will it rain?! For most couples, the last thing they want are rain clouds on their wedding day. But what if you do get rain? The first thing to remember, it’s not the end of the world! You can still have an unforgettable wedding (and incredible photos) even if the weather has been less than you’d hoped for.

We asked experienced wedding photographer Fiona Kelly to share her top tips for getting the best out of your photography, whatever the weather.